The Wedding
by damnitnikki
Summary: Mindy is kind of regretting taking Danny as a date to a wedding...and then kind of not. ONE-SHOT.


"Can we go now?" Danny asked again for the fourth time that night.

Mindy took another sip of her drink, delaying her answer. "No," she sighed, repeating her response for the fourth time that night "It's a wedding. It would be rude if we left."

Danny groaned and slouched back in his chair. Mindy looked at him and rolled her eyes. "Just because you're a party-pooper doesn't mean everyone else is."

"I don't even know why you brought me here."

"Because I needed a date. And you, unfortunately, were the only option."

"What about Reed?" Danny asked. "You could've brought him. He loves this shit. Get him a little bit more than tipsy and you could end up having a really good night, Lahiri."

"Jeremy and I don't do that anymore," she quipped. "Besides, he's here with someone else." She nodded her head over to the dance floor, where Jeremy and Betsy were. They seemed to be having a pretty good time, from what Mindy could see. She had never seen Jeremy smile that much when he wasn't charming his way into getting something or having sex. Betsy seemed to be good for him.

Mindy smiled and she turned back to Danny. "See?" He just raised one eyebrow. Mindy sighed. It was useless.

"I guess we could stay a bit longer," Danny said. "But if they start doing the Macarena, I'm out."

She broke out into a grin. He shook his head, as if she was being ridiculous. In reality, she was pretty certain Danny was okay being here. Weddings weren't his favorite—seeing as his own marriage ended worse than Jen and Brad's—but at least he agreed to come with her.

If someone would have told her that she would bring Danny Castellano as a date to a wedding a couple months ago, Mindy would have laughed in their face. But, things have been different lately. They've become amicable, friends even.

They have lunch together, sometimes. And, he always takes her side when Morgan is _insisting _on having a pet-sitting area in the waiting room. (It's a doctor's office, for God's sake.) And they're each other's automatic back ups when they have to go to a social event that require plus-ones, such as this one.

It's a weird relationship, but it works.

She looked at him. "Hey, you want to play 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon'?"

"What?"

"Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It's where someone chooses a name of an actor or actress, and another person has to link them to Kevin Bacon in six or less steps." Mindy saw the confused look on his face. "Here. I'll show you. Choose an actor."

"Any actor?"

"Or actress."

Danny thought about it for a while. "Al Pachino."

She made a face. "Ew. Someone I know."

"Everyone knows Al Pachino!" he exclaimed incredulously.

"Danny."

"Fine, fine," he let out a breath. "That guy from that movie you always watch. With the…the boat in the rain."

"_The Notebook_?"

"Yeah, that one. That guy in it."

"Ryan Gosling?"

"No, no. The other guy." Danny started snapping his fingers. "The one that the redhead left."

"James Marsden?" she asked impatiently. He _really_ needed work on his movie knowledge.

"Yeah."

"Okay, I can work with that," she said, ignoring his not-so-subtle scoff. She straightened up. "James Marsden to John Travolta in _Hairspray_, John Travolta to Denzel Washington in _The Taking of Pelham 123_—"

"You watched that movie?" he interrupted, eyes wide.

"I was in need of a Denzel fix and I was already at the movies, so, yes. I watched that movie. Do you mind?" He twirled his fingers in a _go on_ motion and Mindy cleared her throat. "Denzel Washington to Queen Latifah in _The Bone Collector_—which was totally gross, FYI. I can't believe I let Adam make me watch that—"

"Adam?" he interrupted again.

She waved it off. "First 'boyfriend', if you could call it that. Senior year of high school."

"How long did it last?"

She looked at him, "Since when are you so interested in my love life?"

Seeing him blush slightly was a small reward for her. She grinned and took another sip of champagne. "_Anyway_, Queen Latifah to Kevin Bacon in _Beauty Shop_. Voilà."

Danny looked at her straight in the eye and said, "That is the stupidest game I have ever heard."

Mindy sniffed and rolled her eyes. "You are so uncultured."

"Says the person who doesn't know who Al Pachino is!"

"I know who he _is_," Mindy shot back. "I just haven't seen any of his movies."

"How does one go through life without seeing an Al Pachino film? It's like never listening to Springsteen."

"Oh, my God, not this again—look, Danny, I was just trying to make this _fun_. I know that weddings aren't the best for you, given your…" she trailed off.

"…Own marriage crashed and burned?" he continued for her. She glanced at him, not knowing what to say.

God, why did he have to make this "being friends" thing so difficult? He was crabby most of the time, spending every possible moment avoiding social interaction, when he could help it. She had told him over and over again that meeting people and getting out there was the only way he was going to get over his bitch of an ex-wife. He needed to pick himself back up, dust himself off, and get back on the horse, as they say. Mindy did it plenty of times after a bad break up (though, it took her some time after a few, but she did it), so why couldn't he?

He would always make a face at her and then go back into his office and slam the door. Mindy would then have to coax him out with the promise of hot dogs and the fact that she wasn't going to watch _You've Got Mail_ in the break room that day. (She never really could keep to the last part of the deal, but, hey, a girl's not perfect.)

Mindy looked at him now, dressed up in a suit that would make JT jealous, drinking the last of his scotch. She sighed and looked out on the dance floor. Jeremy and Betsy seemed like they were having a great time. It was totally obvious that they had feelings for each other. _Now if they just admitted it_, Mindy thought. It would never happen though, not without some outside help. Betsy was too shy and Jeremy was too nervous. He was never really a relationships kind of guy and Mindy could tell that he didn't really want to screw it up with Betsy. That's where she came in. Mindy made a mental note to start putting Betsy and Jeremy together more often in the office on Monday.

She polished off the last of her champagne when "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton came on.

"I love this song," Mindy and Danny said in unison.

They looked at each other. "You know this song?" he asked, seemingly genuinely surprised.

"Everyone and their moms know this song, Danny. It was playing after Chandler proposed to Monica on _Friends_."

"Yeah, but—"

"But what?"

"Thirteen-year-old girls don't listen to this."

She shook her head in irritation. "Whatever, Castellano," she muttered as she turned away from him. He was so impossible to deal with sometimes; she wondered why she brought him here in the first place. She really shouldn't let him get to her like that. She should really give him a piece of her mi—

All of the sudden, he was in front of her, his hand out. "Wanna dance?" he asked, with that cute little half-smile that he had, the one that drove Mindy insane, not that she would ever acknowledge it.

She nodded silently and placed her hand in his, letting him lead her out to the dance floor. She doesn't know why, but her heart is pounding faster than usual.

She had seen Danny move on the dance floor once, when they were all at a club, and he was pretty good, but that was a club. This was slow dancing. They stopped when they got in the middle of the crowd and he turned to face her, a weird expression in his eyes. She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck until he stopped her. Mindy furrowed her brow in confusion. Then, without looking away from her, Danny placed her right hand on his left shoulder and her other hand in his. _His _left hand went firmly around her waist.

It kind of turned her on.

She cleared her throat. "Okay."

"This isn't junior high. If we're going to dance, we're going to do it right."

Mindy didn't even have the resistance to roll her eyes. God, he was such a man. She laughed off her anxiety a bit, as he got closer to her. What? Why was she nervous? This was _Danny Castellano_, for Christ's sake, not _Grease_-era John Travolta. God, she was just being ridiculous. _Get your shit together, Lahiri. _

She tried to ignore the fact that his palms were considerably sweatier than they had been moments before. Oh, God. Was he as nervous as she was to be dancing together? She bit her lip. _It's now or never_. She rested her head on his shoulder.

Mindy could have sworn she felt his breath hitch, but maybe that was just her imagination. She definitely felt him tense, though. He relaxed a few moments later and they swayed to the beat.

They danced in silence until Mindy heard him whispering the lyrics, "_My darling, you are wonderful tonight_." She wanted to look at him then, to see if he was just singing to the song, or if he was singing _at _someone—mainly her—but she couldn't bring herself to move her head, which was comfortable and warm on his chest.

"Three weeks," she blurted out.

"What?" Danny asked, stopping their swaying movement. She cursed herself for ever saying anything and turned her head up to look at him.

"My relationship with Adam. It only lasted three weeks."

"What happened?"

"He really wanted to go to prom with Hannah Kellar." She added a silent _bitch _to the end of that statement.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, if it's any consolation, Adam was an idiot."

She laughed at that. Danny cracked that half-smile. "Thanks," she said. "It was a long time ago. I'm over it."

Danny opened his mouth to say something, but just then, the song ended and Gina—the bride—came on the microphone.

"Okay, all you single ladies!" she cheered into the microphone, tipsy. "Who's ready to catch the bouquet?"

"Shit," Mindy muttered to herself, looking at the floor. She forgot about that.

Danny looked at her. "Do you want to get a drink?" When he saw her face, he continued. "Not here. Somewhere we don't have to be smiling and happy all the time."

"But, what about—"

"I'm sure Reed and Betsy can make excuses for us. Do you want to go or not?"

Mindy was so startled by the intensity in his eyes that she forgot how to speak, so she just nodded numbly. With that, Danny placed his hand on the small of her back and steered her off of the dance floor and to the coat check.

When he picked up their coats, Mindy looked over her shoulder to see that it was Betsy who had caught the bouquet. She stole a glance to Jeremy, who was looking both terrified and pleased at the same time.

"Oh, boy," Danny said. She turned to him. He was looking at the same thing she was. "That's going to fun to deal with at the office."

"I think it's sweet," she said as he helped her into her coat.

"Yeah, well," he said. He shook his head. "Ready?" He offered his arm—no one had ever done that for her before—and she took it.

Danny called a cab. Once they were in, he told the driver the address of the bar. Mindy noticed that Danny's half-smile hadn't disappeared.

Danny settled into the seat next to her, slouching a little. Mindy felt heat in her fingers as she realized that their hands were brushing against one another, but neither of them moved. She flushed and looked out the window.

"Billy Crystal."

She smiled. Maybe this wasn't such a bad night after all.


End file.
